This PhD thesis examines the connections between sustainability knowledge management (SKM) and sustainability management tools in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While previous literature has established that knowledge is essential for the application of sustainability management tools, the effects of such tools on knowledge management are under-researched in the sustainability context. ... »

The market environment is fundamentally changing in the face of immense global environmental and social challenges, and the need for sustainable business practices represents an important opportunity for businesses and organizations to seize. Integrating environmental and social values into core business activities is the crucial for lasting prof ... »

At the example of Daimler Trucks, this thesis aims at raising awareness for highly possible changes in the business environment of every major company that uses sophisticated logistic networks in order to enhance competitive advantage. Excessive emissions of GHGs, especially CO2 trigger these developments and are at the center of the thesis at hand.

In this research we evaluate the environmental economic impact of shipping from the perspective of CO2 emissions by implementing Marine Emission Trading Scheme (METS), as defined. This trading scheme is based on the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) program with adjustments for the shipping industry’s needs.
First, we evaluate the socio-economic cost of carbon emissions from seaborne trade a ... »

The Alibaba Group was one of the biggest and fastest growing businesses in China for about ten years. Among many other companies under the holding’s umbrella, Alibaba.com had become the world’s most frequented market place in the Business to Business segment. The company provided an internet platform for especially small and medium sized companies, where western demands m ... »

The chocolate industry is confronted with serious sustainability challenges in cocoa production that may put long term cocoa supply at risk. Although sustainability challenges have been a concern for the industry for some years, the challenges have become more complex and increasingly urgent. Hence, it is analysed how chocolate manufacturers started to address the challenges. Additionally, the inf ... »

The modern concept of human rights and its accompanying international legal regime were developed under the umbrella of the Westphalia international governance framework. Globalization, though, puts into question some of the fundamental pillars of Westphalia, particularly its state centric premise. As the regulatory power of the state declines, corporations, in conjunction with other non-state age ... »

The oikos FutureLab is the biggest event in the annual oikos calendar which gathers representatives from the entire oikos community. It provides a 2-day platform for 140 participants to inspire, discover and develop joint perspectives on the future of sustainability in management and economics. More information is available here.

In order to achieve a sustainable growth and to respond to social pressures, firms develop their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy. Corporate Governance, especially the board of directors, plays here a strategic role by integrating the environmental, social and societal objectives in the decision-making process. Based on the French case, this dissertation analyzes how corporate governan ... »

Sustainability reporting tools (SRTs) have proliferated in order to meet the demand of stakeholders for higher transparency on environmental and social issues. Despite the increasing reliance on SRTs in decision making, much is still unknown about their effectiveness. If SRTs prove to be ineffective, they may pose a serious obstacle to sustainable development as well as to the discourse associated ... »

For investments in renewable energy consumers, electric utilities as well as private and institutional investors use a wide range of financial instruments. In the past few years, innovative models like leasing, power purchase agreements, green bonds, yieldcos and crowdfunding – “renewable energy finance 2.0” – have moved up the agenda in this context. Earlier this week, we invited 22 parti ... »

On June 21st, 2015, three oikos members traveled to New York City with a bag full of aspirations and enthousiasm. Anita Negri, Julia Weber (oikos Vienna, COMMIT Manager) and Nikolay Ivanov (oikos Copenhagen, CBS PRME), first attended the GRLI Annual Meeting (June 21st and 22nd).

On the first day of the GRLI AGM, the oikos team met with Chris Taylor, the so-called, mentor of COMMIT. C ... »

The case revolves around “Sistema Ser” (SSer) (1), a private health care organization that serves the base of the pyramid (BOP) in northern Argentina, and its founder and director, Argentine gynecologist Dr. Jorge Gronda. In the late 1990s, Dr. Gronda had begun to serve the poor—particularly women in the remote Puna region—on an unpaid, voluntary basis. Eventually, th ... »

Poverty, illiteracy and gender discrimination have been the underlying factors that have stifled development in the villages of Jharkhand state in northern India. In 2006, Hudlung village located in the outskirts of the steel city of Jamshedpur was acutely stricken by poverty with about 80% of the population living below the poverty line, as defined by the Government of India ... »

In July 2012 Peter Terium was named the new CEO of RWE, the biggest electricity provider in Germany. RWE has performed financially well over the previous 40 years with annual sales greater than €50bn since 2010. However, in 2014 the company had to disclose €2.8bn of net losses for the first time in its history.[i] This prompted an urgent need to change RWE’s corporate s ... »

Founded in 2007 in Portland, Oregon, Hopworks Urban Brewery is a sustainability-focused brewpub that produces certified organic beer. The State of Oregon is the second largest producer of hops, a main ingredient in beer, in the United States, and also has more craft breweries per capita than any other state. The metro area of Portland, home to over 2 million people, has over ... »

Many for-profit enterprises with a strong social or environmental mission, as well as businesses with a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility, struggle with the issue of keeping their social or environmental mission alive as the companies grow larger, bring in new investors, deal with mergers and acquisitions, and change leadership. There have been many failure ... »

Inspired by oikos Vienna, which started oikos Talks in December 2014, oikos Tbilisi decided to organize the project at Tbilisi State University. The aim of this series is to give students and interested listeners a personal and special insight in sustainable economics related topics. Also it is our intention to show how broad and diverse the field of sustainable economics and management really is. ... »

The oikos FutureLab is the biggest event in the annual oikos calendar which gathers representatives from the entire oikos community. It provides a 2-day platform for 120 participants to inspire, discover and develop joint perspectives on the future of sustainability in management and economics. It leverages our global network of student members, alumni, advisors, faculty and partners for action. I ... »

COMMIT, along with GRLI (Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, are conducting a workshop as part of oikos Spring Meeting in London. We will discuss about the future of management education and the role of our initiative, COMMIT. GRLI will share its experience in campaigning in the landscape of management education.

Everyone who wants to think about the role of students in shaping manageme ... »

oikos has launched a new initiative on management education called COMMIT. We believe that to face the challenges of the modern world, business must become more conscious, more responsible, and more pro-active in addressing social and environmental issues. To facilitate this, business schools should develop value-driven future decision makers that are committed to change, understand the importanc ... »

Between 7th and 11th November 2014 three oikos Warsaw members will be representing the Chapter at the Presidents Meeting and FutureLab in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The topic of this year's FutureLab is "Buidling the Bridge towards Sustainability". During the conference Dominika and Hubert will be leading the Energy Learning Circle. ... »

The oikos FutureLab is the biggest event in the annual oikos calendar which gathers representatives from the entire oikos community. It provides a 2-day platform for 120 participants to inspire, discover and develop joint perspectives on the future of sustainability in management and economics. It leverages our global network of student members, alumni, advisors, faculty and partners for action. ... »

11th edition of the annual oikos Case Writing Competition awards leading teaching cases on sustainability in management and entrepreneurship

St. Gallen, 26th May 2014 – oikos, the international student-driven organization for sustainable management and economics, announced the winners of its annual oikos Case Writing Competition. The first prize in the corporate sustainability track i ... »

The oikos FutureLab is the biggest event in the annual oikos calendar which gathers representatives from the entire oikos community. It provides a 2-day platform for 120 participants to inspire, discover and develop joint perspectives on the future of sustainability in management and economics. It leverages our global network of student members, alumni, advisors, faculty and partners for action. I ... »

As of today, fairtrade products can be found in almost any grocery store. Both, sales volume and variety of products available keep increasing at a fast pace. Much has been discussed about the certification instruments and the concept behind the fairtrade movement. However, cases discussing the business models of fairtrade initiatives are rare. We hereby present two cases to help explore the chall ... »

The oikos FutureLab is the biggest event in the annual oikos calendar which gathers representatives from the entire oikos community. It provides a 2-day platform for 120 participants to inspire, discover and develop joint perspectives on the future of sustainability in management and economics. It leverages our global network of student members, alumni, advisors, faculty and partners for action. I ... »

The oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy 2013 at the UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD), Istanbul, provides PhD students and young scholars working on poverty and sustainable d ... »

This case describes how Florida Ice & Farm (FIFCO), Costa Rica’s leading beverage company, develops and implements a triple bottom line strategy that addresses not only its financial returns but also its social and environmental performance. This initiative was adopted during the financial crisis, severely testing FIFCO’s commitment to sustainability.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) was a Denver, Colorado-based chain that competed in the fast casual segment of the restaurant industry. The chain offered a range of Mexican food items in its 1,316 restaurants, which were predominantly in the United States. Founder and current co-CEO, Steve Ells had emphasized not only good tasting food but also a commitment to sustain ... »

This case is about Novo Nordisk, one of the leading global healthcare companies. Novo Nordisk started to focus on sustainability when its predecessor Novo faced criticism regarding its business practices in the late 1960s. A pioneer in sustainability reporting, the company introduced several sustainability related initiatives like the Novo Nordisk Way of Management and t ... »

Make it a summer to remember with oikos! Still not sure about where to travel this summer? Then join us at the Summer School in Baku or at the Sustainable Energy for Europe Conference in Warsaw or apply to be a Student Reporter at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian-China or simply join us in our online webinars on sustainable fashion. If you are a PhD student, y ... »

Creating Hybrid Ventures:
Legitimacy and Sustainability Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship
The fourth oikos Young Scholars Entrepreneurship Academy provides a unique platform to develop scholars in the early stages of their careers. Exceptional PhD candidates, post docs and young faculty are at the center of the program. The academy aims at advancing academic research, at building networks ... »

In a bold bid to dramatically reshape the automotive industry, start-up company Better Place is attempting to shift transportation from reliance on the environmentally destructive internal combustion engine to electric power from renewable sources. In order to overcome the limitations of current technology and utilize off-the-shelf hardware, Better Place is rolling o ... »

Peter Ingwersen founded the companies in February 2005. The two entities were like Siamese twins; Noir designed and produced luxury clothing for women, while Illuminati II was set up to produce high quality, fair-trade, organic cotton fabrics of the highest quality both for Noir and other leading fashion brands. Together, they provided the basis for a totally new concept ... »

Hunghom Peninsula was a residential building complex with a superior location in Hong Kong. The harbour-view flats were originally built under the government’s abandoned Private Sector Participation Scheme, a program intended to provide affordable housing for middle-class residents. Fears by wealthy land owners and developers that the scheme would erode property valu ... »

Shai Agassi started Better Place with the ambition of setting up an ecosystem – including a ‘smart grid’ of charging stations and battery swapping facilities – for electric vehicles. These charging stations were to be powered by electricity generated from renewable sources to eliminate indirect emissions due to the operation of electric cars. Better Place also pa ... »